Third mayoral forum ignites on pensions

Mike Morris at the Chron's piece on Saturday's third debate hits the mark for comprehensive detail on the policies as well as the political jousting.

All seven top-tier candidates vying for term-limited Mayor Annise Parker's chair this fall appeared at a forum Saturday morning focused on labor and workers' rights.

The questions often revealed little distance among the hopefuls, and, indeed, a few noted it would be tough to find a Houston mayoral candidate opposed to comprehensive immigration reform or living wages for workers.

All the candidates said they support those issues, as well as worker training programs and improved access to health care, two other questions posed by forum panelists. All seven candidates shared at least some level of concern about issues such as gentrification and low voter turnout.

The one question to generate any fireworks was a predictable one: Whether the candidates support keeping and funding the defined benefit pension plan for municipal workers.

There's been prior coverage of Sylvester Turner's hand in breaking the retirement program logjam a few months ago.  That and his frontrunning status made him the target.  Chris Bell even leapt to his defense after tirades from Ben Hall, Bill King, and Steven Costello.

Hall, King and Costello all took swipes at Turner on pensions, prompting Bell to draw a sustained laugh from the crowd when he quipped, "Don't worry Sylvester, I'll protect you."

The executive summary of the discussion by Morris, from the end of his article.

Here are some highlights of what the candidates said about economic inequality, workers' rights and affordable housing:

• Bell said at least twice that he would put a labor liaison on his executive staff as mayor and also stressed the need to address growing economic inequality in Houston. "If we don't address this issue we're going to continue to have a city of haves versus have-nots," he said.
• Costello focused several times on worker training. He advocated the use of "best value" rather than "low bid" selections in city contracting to enable the city to better penalize irresponsible companies that cut corners. On affordable housing, he advocated for the city to provide more incentives to developers to avoid gentrification, and for similar efforts creating an affordable district for artists.
• Garcia: Touted his efforts while on City Council to get vaccines to Latino kids in his district when he learned his district had one of the city's lowest immunization rates. He focused heavily on affordable housing and gentrification, and said the city must find ways to prevent citizens from paying for their neighbors' investments in their own taxes.
• Hall said he would give preference in city contracting to companies that provide apprenticeships and said he would pursue policies to "grandfather" existing homes in gentrifying areas to prevent residents from being pushed out.
• King said he would work to increase the number of and funding for Federally Qualified Health Centers, and would evaluate whether city clinics unnecessarily duplicate services with county clinics. He said any contractor caught stealing workers' wages should be fired and banned from doing business with the city.
• McVey said because the Legislature has blocked the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, the city should seek a way to get payments directly from Washington. McVey also called for more urban planning, with a focus on preventing gentrification.
• Turner touted his support in the Legislature for expanding a health insurance program for impoverished youth and for increased funding for trauma centers, and took issue with an expansive subsidy program launched under Parker to pay developers $15,000 per apartment or condominium built downtown; "It's about time we pushed that to the neighborhoods," he said.

There's enough there for everybody to find something they like and something they don't.  I'll digest this, along with what I gathered from coverage of the first and second mayoral forums last week, and present some thoughts about the current status of the mayor's race in a forthcoming post.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is happy there's no hint of any special sessions to come, no rain for the past week, and no biker gang-police confrontations (except for this one) as it brings you this week's roundup of the best lefty blog posts from last week.

Off the Kuff notes that while Travis County is ready for the Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage, there's likely to be no small amount of chaos in the state once they do.

Letters from Texas explains how a recent ruling in a North Carolina redistricting case may bode well for Texas' plaintiffs.

LightSeeker at Texas Kaos calls "ethics reform" in Texas for what it is. Government is for, by and of the highest bidder. Texas leads the pack. Texas Ethical Reform - DOA.

SocraticGadfly, reading about a new study that claims classical psychological conditioning during sleep can reduce racist tendencies, has two thoughts: it's either too good to be true, or, if it has real and lasting change, it's probably got an element of Clockwork Orange.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is glad the McAllen ISD and others are taking care to feed children during the summer.

Do you think Greg Abbott's first legislative session as governor was a success or a failure? PDiddie at Brains and Eggs wants to know.

WCNews at Eye on Williamson thinks the threat was enough for the clandestine video scheme that may have changed the game on the budget and taxes in 84th Texas Legislature: Timing is everything.

TXsharon at Bluedaze details the cost of the Texas Railroad Commission's denial of the existence of frackquakes.

Egberto Willies thinks we need more than a 'listening' and 'learning' tour from Hillary Clinton at this stage of her political career. Policies, please. (And he got a response from her, this past week in Houston, on voting rights.)

nonsequiteuse missed the mayoral arts and culture forum, but it got her thinking about getting arts organizations out of their silos and engaged as advocates for progressive change.

On her long road seeking the presidency, one of Hillary Clinton's greatest challenges will be to re-create the infamous coalition of 2008. This week at Texas Southern University, she worked hard to mend some fences, and shared some important views on voting rights.

Neil at All People Have Value offered a framework about how to live our lives. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

And McBlogger criticized Leon Cooperman, the hedge fund billionaire, for criticizing Hillary Clinton, who criticized hedge funds.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Texas Watch celebrated its victories from the legislative session.

Grits for Breakfast can't wait to see if the state's new junk science writ will be interpreted broadly or not.

The Texas Election Law Blog asks if our government is supposed to represent everyone, or just everyone who is allowed to vote.

The Texas Living Waters Project warns of a new environmental danger to the Brazos River.

Molly Cox bemoans low voter turnout in San Antonio.

Keep Austin Wonky explains how percentage-based homestead exemptions help fuel inequality.

Paradise in Hell is not impressed by Rick Perry 2016.

Texans for Public Justice and Public Citizen call Greg Abbott "just plain wrong" on the matter of dark money and disclosure.

Texas Vox managed to find a few small rays of hope from the legislative session.

Equality Texas produced its report card for the 84th Legislature.

And Fascist Dyke Motors got stranded in the future.

Janek finally out as HHS director

Your Friday afternoon state execution. No, not that one. This one.

Health and Human Services Commissioner Kyle Janek is on his way out, state officials announced Friday, shaking up Texas' biggest agency that plunged into turmoil over a $110 million no-bid contracting scandal that remains under criminal investigation.

Janek, who makes $260,000 a year and was appointed in 2012, will step down on July 1.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott made no mention of the unrest at the massive agency, which includes an ongoing probe by public corruption prosecutors and the forced resignation of other top officials, in naming two veteran state executives to take over the 56,000-person commission.

But tellingly, within an hour of announcing the changes, the governor touted his signing of contracting laws that are being tightened after HHSC last year gave an Austin tech company lucrative no-bid deals to help the state root out Medicaid fraud. 

Meet the new boss.  Same as the old boss.

Chief Deputy Commissioner Chris Traylor is set to assume the top job. But if Traylor knew it earlier this week, he certainly didn’t show it. The deputy commissioner announced last month that he was retiring and was actually feted Tuesday at a goodbye party for him.

Remember, ethics reform was an emergency item of the new governor's, announced at the beginning of the just-concluded 84th legislative session.   And the one thing he has to show for it is this bill, and Janek's scalp.  Not according to the good doctor, naturally.

Janek told reporters the decision to resign was his and was unrelated to the scandal. Asked if he felt any pressure from the governor's office, he said, "None."

"History will show this job has a shelf life," the 57-year-old said.

Traylor long had been seen as potential pick for the top job, but had said as recently as last month he would retire this summer.

A longtime health commission leader, he was seen inside the agency as more of Janek's co-captain than deputy since the two were appointed to their jobs in 2012 by then-Gov. Rick Perry.

Perhaps most importantly, he had avoided any blame for the contracting scandal, which previously had caused the resignations of four high-ranking officials, a criminal investigation and calls by several lawmakers for Janek to step down.

Republic and Democratic state legislators alike approve of Traylor, so there's that.

"I am thankful Commissioner Traylor agreed to forego his retirement," state Senate budget writer Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, said in a statement. "His institutional memory and his understanding of the mechanics of our programs will be a huge asset, especially as we transition to a more cohesive health and human services system."

State Rep. Garnet Coleman, one of the legislators who had asked Janek to resign, said Friday that Traylor is "more than capable" of leading the commission at this time. 

"You need some experience, some hands on the wheel," said the Houston Democrat, who first met Traylor in 1995. "He's a straight shooter, tells the truth. He's seasoned." 

Okay then.  If the commission can't get its act cleaned up this time, then pretty much everybody running this state should be held accountable if yet another lapse in moral judgment suddenly appears.  With a former governor still under indictment and a current attorney general under investigation, the prevailing Lone Star attitude seems to be: what's a little graft from a health commissioner in the grand scheme?

Sunday Funnies, 19 and counting edition

Scattershooting Eddie Lucio and Houston lobbyists

-- Have I said 'Screw Eddie Lucio" this week yet?  South Texas Chisme has your "'Democratic' senator lauds Patrick" post.  There has GOT to be a real Democrat in that district to replace this guy (and I'm not referring to Eddie Lucio III, necessarily).

-- This from a week ago almost got past me in a very busy week.

Four years after Mayor Annise Parker's administration tightened Houston's lobbying rules and pledged to enforce them, not a single person or firm has been cited despite records showing that many lobbyists have failed to abide by the regulations.

A Houston Chronicle review of city records and interviews show that dozens of lobbyists do not properly record the clients they represent, do not keep their registrations up to date or do not report spending any money to influence city leaders.

In addition to registering their employers, lobbyists must disclose the spending they do to lobby city officials. Of the 142 lobbyists with active files in the City Secretary's office, only 24 reported spending money on lobbying, and only 10 reported making more than three expenditures. Many activity reports also were filed late.

Lobbyists must update their registrations annually, but dozens fail to do so, leading to lapses ranging from a few days to several months. Some fought issues before the City Council, met with city officials or took council members to luncheons or Astros games during those lapses.

Most of these people identified in the article are Democrats.  A couple are former council members of council.  They're identified by name in the article.  Frankly I'm embarrassed that people I know and like seem to be out to lunch (pun not intended) about properly disclosing their business.  The bottom line is: if you play the game, you need to play by the rules.  If you don't know the rules, you need to learn them.

Even the new city attorney prevaricated  on the matter.

City Attorney Donna Edmundson said her office does not have the resources to do proactive enforcement. Edmundson acknowledged some lobbyists complain about competitors, but said she has never received a written complaint that would spur her to investigate.

"The criminal standard is 'intentionally or knowingly violates.' The bottom line is, it's just a Class C misdemeanor," Edmundson said, noting the $500 fine such a violation would carry. "If someone files a written complaint, that's fine. I don't know of anyone in the city that would sit here and look at the City Secretary's list."

Well, that's going to change.  Especially when the city attorney telephones a lobbyist after receiving complaints to encourage that person to get into compliance.  The former city attorney seems to have a different POV about being 'proactive'.

Many lobbyists who report no activity say they deliberately avoid spending money on lobbying or avoid topping $25 per purchase, the threshold above which expenses must be disclosed, in part because they want to avoid the hassle of filling out reports.

"Are these people really saying they don't ever spend in excess of $25? That's just not believable," (David) Feldman said. "If this ordinance is being interpreted and applied in such a way that they're not having to really disclose their activities, then there needs to be another look at this ordinance."

Yet another reason we can't have a nice democracy.  Greg Abbott and the Texas Legislature have already set a bad enough example for the sham of talking about ethics reform and doing nothing about it; let's hold our city's leaders and those who exert influence on them to a higher standard of accountability.

This would seem to be an opportunity tailor-made for a mayoral candidate to capitalize on, especially if a mayoral candidate has served previously on council -- like Chris Bell, Adrian Garcia, and/or Stephen Costello.  I hope somebody will be asking them about it at this morning's third mayoral forum (which I will again be forced to miss).

Clinton, in Houston, touts universal voter registration

And an extended early voting period.  Her short talk on expanding voting rights in H-Town yesterday afternoon stomped all over Rick Perry's presidential declaration, and may have even affected turnout at the mayoral forum next door at U of H (in the evening).  And she busted a lot of Republican balls in the process.

"What is happening is a sweeping effort to disempower and disenfranchise people of color, poor people and young people from one end of our country to the other," Clinton said at the historically black Texas Southern University, where she received a leadership award named after the late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan.

The former Secretary of State and the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for president also suggested a national requirement for at least 20 days of in-person early voting, including options for weekend and evening voting.

"If families coming out of church on Sunday are inspired to go vote, they should be free to do just that," Clinton said after calling on Congress to replace the portions of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013.

You may recall that the Texas Legislature passed, in 2013, what was generally acknowledged as the most restrictive voter photo ID bill in the nation.  A federal judge struck it down about a month before the 2014 general election, but the Fifth Circuit quickly reversed that, and with just a few days before early voting was to begin, the Supreme Court -- having quashed several other states' less restrictive laws -- declined to intervene in the Texas case at the last hour.  So we got the lowest recorded voter participation since the Great Depression in the past statewide election cycle.  Oh yeah, Democrats got hammered.

Coincidence?

The Fifth is yet to rule on the case, having heard arguments at the end of April.  It will likely go on  to the Supremes after that, perhaps for a final ruling this time next year.  But the SCOTUS declined to stop a similarly harsh law in Wisconsin just this past March.  If the Texas law ultimately stands, Democrats are going to have to keep grinding on their potential voter base to get registered, get ID, and then get their asses to the voting booth.  But photo ID or no, a blue wave is coming, and only the US House -- gerrymandered to hell and back -- may remain red after November of 2016.  The US Senate is primed and ready to revert to Democratic control.  In other words, there may be no stopping the removal of these ridiculous obstacles to citizen participation in Texas elections (save the electorate's own apathy, of course).

Read Clinton's full speech here, and her reference to Oregon as the model.  Or watch it below.

More presidential logo hilarity

So Rick Perry stole his campaign logo from Popeyes? pic.twitter.com/tLA0UyopEi

— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) June 4, 2015

This is the result of too many corporate PR firms "expanding their markets" into politics.  Bernie Sanders, notably, doesn't suffer that problem.